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2050 Plan
Restored from the 2017–2023 coalition website, as captured on June 4, 2023. The text is kept as published. Dead links and contact details have been removed.
The Umatilla County Critical Ground Water Task Force was organized in 2004 to "develop and recommend solutions to short and long term water issues in Umatilla County", with a particular focus on OWRD-designated Critical Groundwater Areas. Efforts of the group resulted in the extensively researched "Umatilla Sub-basin 2050 Water Managment Plan", or the "2050 Plan", which was released in final draft form on August 19, 2008. Below you find a complete list of documents from the Plan's appendices.
Appendix A: Example Legislation for a Groundwater Counties Remidiation Act in Arkansas
Appendix B: Umatilla Basin Rules (OAR Chapter 690, Division 507)
Appendix C: Sub-Basin Funding Scenarios
Appendix D: Sub-Basin Water Project Options
Appendix E: Umatilla County Exempt Well Resolution
Appendix F: Umatilla County 2050 Plan -- Statement of Goals and Principles
Appendix G: Task Force Charter
Appendix H: Groundwater Taskforce Project Concept
Appendix I: Senate Bill 602
Appendix J: Bureau of Reclamation Surface and Groundwater Storage Assessments: (Part1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)
Appendix K: 1986 Umatilla Basin Report (Part 1) (Part 2)
Appendix L: 1988 Umatilla Basin Report (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)
Appendix M: Umatilla Basin Data Synthesis and Summary
Appendix N: 2007 OWRD Report to Umatilla County
Appendix O: 1988 USGS Horse Heaven Hills Groundwater Model
Appendix P: Water Resources Status, A Study of the Water Resources Availability and Demand in the Umatilla River Basin, Oregon
Appendix Q: OWRD, Groundwater Supplies in the Umatilla Basin
Appendix R: Irrigation History, Fred Ziari
Appendix S: Draft Umatilla Sub-basin 2050 Water Managment Plan Review Report
Appendix T: Comments Received
Added in 2026
Context for “2050 Plan”
The 2050 Plan came out of a long-running problem in Umatilla County: groundwater levels in the deep basalt aquifers had dropped far enough that the Oregon Water Resources Department designated critical groundwater areas and restricted new pumping. The task force, organised in 2004, looked for ways to replace that groundwater, chiefly by moving Columbia River water inland and by aquifer recharge. Its final draft is dated August 19, 2008.
The appendix files were hosted on the coalition's Squarespace account and were not all preserved; links above point to web-archive copies where they exist.
What is a critical groundwater area?
An area where the Oregon Water Resources Department has found groundwater declining or over-appropriated and has limited or closed it to new wells. Several such areas were designated in the Umatilla Basin.
Can I still download the plan's appendices?
Only where the Internet Archive kept a copy. The original Squarespace file links stopped working when the site went offline.